(a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and method for the making of a novel, over-lapped folded, filled rolled food product and to the novel over-lapped folded, filled rolled food product so produced.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Many patents are now directed to the manufacture of various rolled food products mechanically rather than by hand.
For example, Canadian Patent 586,999 patented Nov. 17, 1959 by Paul Wolf provided a method and apparatus for the manufacture of filled wafer sandwiches of oblong shape. The patented method included aligning the baked pastry strips in a layer end-to-end, moving the aligned strips, and spreading a filling substance in a layer onto the aligned pastry strips. Then another plurality of baked pastry strips were applied in an offset end-to-end layer over the top of the spread filling substance. The upper baked pastry strips were then pressed into contact with the filling substance.
Canadian Patent No. 1,006,050 patented Mar. 1, 1977 by H. W. H. Hai related to apparatus and method for the making of filled pastry rolls, especially spring rolls. The patented invention provided such apparatus including: a cutter adapted to cut a square of pastry from the leading end of the strip; means for feeding a filling onto the square; a first folding station adapted to fold one corner of the square over the filling; a second folding station to fold the two adjacent corners so that they overlap; a rolling station to form the folded pastry into a roll; and means for conveying the pastry from each station to the next. The folding of the square was performed by movable deflectors, each comprising a group of fingers.
Canadian Patent 1,024,825 patented Jan. 24, 1970 by E. Trostman et al, and its corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,953 patented Feb. 14, 1978 provided a method and apparatus for the production of rolled food products, e.g. chinese spring rolls. The invention provided an apparatus constructed in such a manner that the front portion of the wrap and the opposite side portions thereof were caught by mechanical devises and were successively folded onto the filler substance. Subsequently, the filler substance and the folded portions of the wrap were mechanically rolled towards the rear edge of the wrap. A support was provided for supporting a flat wrap and a filler substance was placed atop the flat wrap. Means were provided for successively folding the front portion and the opposite side portions of the wrap onto the filler substance. Means for generating a superatmospheric pressure below the portions of the wrap, or for generating a vacuum above those portions of the wrap, or combinations thereof were provided for rolling the folded wrap.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,611,950 patented Oct. 12, 1971 by M. Battaglia provided a manicotti-making machine. The patented manicotti-forming machine included means for forming a continuous sheet of dough from a mass thereof and conveying the dough sheet past a filler dispenser for depositing a controlled quantity of filler material onto the dough sheet. Means were provided for cutting the dough sheet and deposited filler into increments of predetermined dimensions. Means finally were provided for folding the cut dough sheet about the deposited filler to form a completed manicotti unit ready for packing and shipping.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,245 patented Mar. 29, 1977 by N. O. B. Kawa provided a device for wrapping sheets around food in rolled form. The essential feature of the invention was embodied in a device having a horizontal and a vertical cylinder with pistons by which a certain amount of the mixture was pushed out on a precut dough sheet which was bent along with the back and both sides of the mixture by a bending arm and by bending vanes, respectively.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,669,007 patented June 13, 1972 by L. Pulici provided a method and apparatus for rolling and tucking filled foodstuffs. Examples of such foodstuffs are Mexican foods, such as burritos and enchiladas, Chinese egg rolls and foods of European origin, such as cabbage rolls, blintzes and canneloni. The method and apparatus involved placing an outer food wrap or envelope upon one of a plurality of continuously moving platens, each of which is provided with a hinged section, upon a conveyor and moving each platen with its wrap beneath an automatic filler tank. The hinged portion of the platen was then folded to make a first transverse fold in the wrap about the filler, and then the filled wrap was rolled upon itself about a line transverse to the conveyor travel. The rolled foodstuff was then sprayed with a binder liquid and was passed between compression belts which compressed the outer wrap edge to the first outer roll layer. Foodstuffs which are tucked as well as rolled may, after the first partial fold is made, be passed between converging guides which ploughed the longitudinal edges of the wrap upwardly and inwardly to form side tucks which then were also rolled with the body of the wrap and filler.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,433 patented Oct. 14, 1975 by K. C. Ma provided an automatic egg roll making machine. The patented method and apparatus included a skin feeding device for feeding the egg roll dough skins in individually cut sections on to a conveyor. The conveyor included a plurality of connected plates, each of which provided a semi-cylindrical mold cup that was used to form the egg roll skin in the desired shape around the food stuffing contained therein. Each section of egg roll skin moved on a conveyor plate to a position beneath a rotary turntable. The rotary turntable received the food stuffing material from a food injector which deposited portions of food stuffing on to the egg roll skin as it passed beneath the rotary turntable. Each conveyor plate included a mold cavity formed by the mold cup. As the food stuffing was transferred from the rotary turntable on to the egg roll skin, the food stuffing was pressed by a compactor against the egg roll skin at the location of the mold cavity so as to compress the food stuffing in a compact form in the mold cavity. After the food was pressed into the mold cavity, two side folding plates on the conveyor plate were activated to fold the two opposite corners of the egg roll skin over towards the centre of the skin. Once the side folding plates have been retracted away from the egg roll, the mold cup was activated from its position below the conveyor plate so that it pivoted on to the top of the conveyor plate, leaving the egg roll in a partially formed condition whereby the food stuffing and its surrounding egg roll skin are folded over on top of the conveyor plate. The conveyor moved the semi-formed egg roll to a spraying station where a spray device directed a bonding agent, such as egg yolk or glucose, on to an expose portion of the egg roll skin. The final rolling operation of the egg roll was performed by a rolling device which contacted and rolled the egg roll until the skin formed a cylindrical shape around the food stuffing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,027 patented Nov. 29, 1977 by D. J. Jenny provided an apparatus for applying ingredients to an edible product. That patented apparatus included a stepwise advancing conveyor band, and work stations arranged along the conveyor band where the ingredients were applied. One of the work stations was equipped with a carriage mounted to be displaceable transversely with respect to the conveyor band. The carriage, when in a first terminal position, was adjacent such conveyor band and was over a discharge slide or chute of a receiving container for the ingredients. The carriage was provided with a number of individual suction heads which could be switched-on and switched-off. These suction heads engaged into the chute in the second terminal position of the carriage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,493 patented Apr. 18, 1978 by E. D. Quinlana provided an apparatus for producing foodstuff products, namely a food product known as a "burrito", which comprises a flat sheet of wheat dough (known as a "tortilla") having a generally circular configuration. The patented apparatus comprised a conveyor system arranged to pass the tortilla placed thereon through a series of stations whereby the flour sheet was sequentially wrapped about the foodstuff ingredients to encapsulate the foodstuff therein. The stations included ones for depositing the foodstuff on the flour sheet, folding the side edges of the sheet by a folding chute, folding the leading edge of the sheet back over the food stuffing and folded side edges, rolling the sheet and stuffing back over itself a first time, and again rolling the sheet and stuffing therein a second and final time, after which the stuffed tortilla was discharged from the conveyor as a completed burrito ready for packaging.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,834 patented Sept. 12, 1978 by G. A. Thing provided a food processing apparatus. The patented apparatus deposited pepperoni slices and grated cheese on a series of pizza pie shells made of pastry. The apparatus included a main conveyor which was continuously operated sequentially to move pizza pie shells along a path extending through a food processing station. A carriage at the food processing station moved a stick of pepperoni relative to a rotational blade to slice pieces of pepperoni from the stick. A secondary conveyor received the slices of pepperoni and positively moved the slices of pepperoni toward a pastry shell being moved by the main conveyor. The secondary conveyor included surfaces which applied forces to opposite sides of the pepperoni slices to grip the slices and positively to move them toward the main conveyor. At another food processing station, a body of cheese was sliced into elongated pieces by a grater. A second cutter severed the elongated pieces of cheese into relatively short lengths. The short lengths of cheese were deposited on a pizza pie shell being moved by the main conveyor. The bodies of cheese were advantageously gripped between a pair of walls which are movable to release the body of cheese after each slicing operation so that the body of cheese can fall by gravity into correct position for a next succeeding slicing operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,643 patented December, 1973 by Papai provided an apparatus designed for the automatic assembling of pizza pies. According to the basic concept of that patent, a conveyor was intermittently driven sequentially to index pastry shells to each of a plurality of food processing stations at which an appropriate foodstuff (e.g. tomato sauce, pepperoni, cheese) was associated with the pastry shell. In the associating of pepperoni with the pastry shell, a plurality of bodies of pepperoni and a cutting blade were movable relative to each other in order to sever pieces of the pepperoni from the pepperoni bodies. A chute was provided for receiving the slices of pepperoni, which then slid along the bottom of the chute and were discharged onto the pastry shell.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,388,059 patented June 14, 1987 by K. C. Ma provided an automatic egg roll making apparatus. The patented apparatus included an intermittently moving transmitting device and a plurality of forming assemblies on the transmitting device. Each forming assembly included folding devices for folding three side portions of an egg roll dough and an egg roll stuffing therein. The apparatus further comprised a device for feeding the egg roll dough successively on each forming assembly, a device for supplying the egg roll stuffing on the egg roll dough, a device for actuating the folding means of the forming assembly to fold three side portions of the egg roll dough over the stuffing in the mold device to thereby form a partially folded egg roll, and a device for wrapping the partially folded egg roll to form a cylindrical egg roll product. In the supplying device, the necessary amount of the stuffing to be disposed in one egg roll product was prepared, and the stuffing was put into the mold device to deposit the stuffing and a part of the egg roll dough therein. In the wrapping device, the stuffing portion in the mold device was pushed up therefrom and was turned for wrapping the remaining side portion of the egg roll dough. Thereafter, the wrapped product was transferred.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,758 patented July 19, 1983 provided a food processing apparatus for certain rolled food products such as burritos, enchiladas, egg rolls, cabbage rolls, blintzes and the like. The patented apparatus included an endless conveyor upon which the outer food layer, or tortilla, was placed, a dispenser station for controllably dispensing a precise amount of food filler onto the tortilla, a plurality of shaped forming wheels adapted to cooperate with the conveyor to fold the tortilla over and about the filler so as to encapsulate the filler within the tortilla and a mechanism for inverting the product thus formed for automatic packaging and shipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,124 patented Mar. 27, 1984 by H. Watonabe provided a machine for automatically making rolled food products such as spring rolls, crepes or the like. The patented machine included means for rolling a food stuffing in a generally rectangular edible skin having first and second diagonally opposite corner areas and third and fourth diagonally opposite corner areas. The machine included a filing device for filling the food stuffing in the edible skin at a location on one side of the diagonal line of the shape of the skin adjacent the first corner area while the skin was placed on a support table. The machine also included a folding device effective to fold the first corner area of the skin, which has been filled with the food stuffing, so as to overlay the food stuffing and then turn backwards and also to fold the third and fourth corner area on respective sides of the food stuffing so as to overlay the food stuffing at a location opposite to the portion of the food stuffing where the first corner area had overlaid, and a rolling device for rolling the second corner area of the skin up around the food stuffing to complete the formation of the egg roll, spring roll, crepe or the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,670 patented Feb. 3, 1987 by A. G. Svengren et al provided an apparatus for the preparation of a rolled pastry product. In the patented apparatus a sheet of pastry material advanced on a conveyor belt and was cut and folded into discrete pieces of a predetermined size and then rolled. The cutting and folding operation was carried out by an oscillating knife positioned above the conveyor belt and having a cutting edge extending laterally across the width of the conveyor belt, which immediately after contacting and cutting through the advancing pastry sheet by means of its cutting edge, ascended and rotated in a direction such that the motional vector of the cutting edge was counter to the conveying direction, thereby causing the forward edge of the pastry sheet to be lifted up and folded over. The knife then descended and rotated in the reverse direction so that the cutting edge contacted and cut through the advancing pastry sheet behind the folded position to separate a folded piece from the remainder of the pastry sheet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,635 patented Mar. 24, 1987 by S. A. Ally provided an apparatus for making pastries such as those known as "samosas". The invention provided a method of producing a multilayered folded pastry comprising the steps of: forming dough into a thin sheet; cutting a leaf of dough from the end of the formed sheet; depositing the leaf onto a folding table comprising a plurality of movable plate elements disposed adjacent one another; and folding the leaf of dough from one or both ends thereof through pivotal movement of the plate elements to form a multi-layered folded pastry. The invention also provided pastry machinery for forming a multi-layered pastry comprising a dough extruder which formed dough into sheet form, a pre-cooking station for the sheet of dough, a moistening station, a cutting station and means for transporting a cut leaf of dough onto a folding device. The folding device folded the pastry through a series of folds once a charge of filling has been deposited on the leaf of dough.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,627 patented Sept. 8, 1987 by G. F. Roberts provided apparatus for making food products, such as burritos, having fillings, wrapped or enrobed in dough sheets, such as tortillas. Dough sheets were conveyed to a first station of the apparatus wherein a rotatably reversing crease-forming roller operated in conjunction with the discharge end of a dough sheet conveyor and its non-reversing end roller to form a downward crease or groove in each dough sheet while simultaneously a predetermined quantity of filling was deposited into the crease or groove. Each dough sheet having a crease or groove with a filing deposited therein was conveyed through a series of stations wherein the dough sheet was folded and formed into a wrapper encasing or enrobing the filing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,821 patented Jan. 5, 1988 provided a line for assembling stuffed proteinaceous patties. All components of the line were mechanically synchronized to maintain a consistent pitch throughout the assembling procedure. Included was a patty forming means that deposited proteinaceous patties, such as ground meat patties, onto a moving conveyor assembly thereby to define the desired pitch: Edible filling materials, such as sauces, condiments and/or cheeses were deposited onto this patty at the given pitch. Another patty was deposited thereover while the product being formed continues to flow on the generally straight-line conveyor assembly. Thereafter, a knitting station impresses projections or pins through the outer periphery of the upper patty and into the lower patty such that, after removal of the pins by the device, the patties were knitted together, and the filing was encapsulated therewithin.